Karyotypic analysis revealed an ~40 cM paracentric inversion with the proximal breakpoint at the junction of bands 10B1/10B2 and the distal break at the junction of bands 10C2/10C3. The inversion is 115 kb 5' of the Kitl coding sequence. Northern analysis shows normal transcript size but this allele exerts tissue-specific reduction in Kitl mRNA expression.